'Avatar' returns to 3D screens with 8 more minutes of footage

It's baaaack ... and it's longer. James Cameron's box-office record-setter "Avatar" returns to theaters with "Avatar: Special Edition," screening exclusively in digital 3D and IMAX 3D and featuring an additional eight minutes of new footage. Cameron describes the additional footage as including "new creatures and action scenes." Local theaters offering "Avatar: Special Edition" include Pacific Science Center's IMAX Theater, Thornton Place, Lincoln Square, Alderwood mall and more; see www.avatarmovie.com for more information.

Summer's winding down, but you can still catch a few outdoor movies this weekend. At sunset tonight, "Candleshoe," a 1977 Disney film with Jodie Foster, screens as the final film in Three Dollar Bill's outdoor movie series, at Cal Anderson Park, 1635 11th Ave., Seattle. Admission is free; see www.threedollarbillcinema.org for more information. "Star Trek," the zippy 2009 edition starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, beams onto the screen at Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheatre Saturday at dusk. Admission is free; see www.seattlecenter.com.

The BoneBat Comedy of Horrors Film Fest takes place Thursday and will include two feature-length films ("Doghouse," a British zombie comedy, and "The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu"), along with numerous short films, prizes and live music from the Seattle metal band Barefoot Barnacle. It all starts at 6 p.m. at The Big Picture in Redmond, 7411 166th Ave., Redmond; 425-556-0566. Tickets are $28 and can be purchased at www.bonehand.com. Note that The Big Picture is a 21-and-older facility.

The Grand Illusion continues Dennis Nyback's "Animation Extravaganza" with "The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss," a selection of propaganda films made in the 1940s by Ted Geisel (better known as children's author Dr. Seuss). Through Thursday at the Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., Seattle; 206-523-3935 or www.grandillusioncinema.org. Note that this program is not appropriate for children.

Filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia ("Mother and Child," "Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her") will be in town Monday for an onstage interview with Warren Etheredge, presented by Washington Filmworks. 7 p.m. at Top of the Town, Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison St., Seattle; tickets are $5 and available through www.brownpapertickets.com or at the door (cash only). For more information, see www.washingtonfilmworks.org.

Douglas Sirk's 1955 melodrama "All That Heaven Allows," an inspiration for Todd Haynes' gorgeous 2002 film "Far from Heaven," will screen at the Metro this week, with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson starring as an upper-class widow and her handsome gardener. Wednesday only, at 7 and 9:10 p.m.; 4500 Ninth Ave., Seattle; 206-781-5755 or www.landmarktheatres.com.

"The Big Uneasy," a documentary by Harry Shearer (of "This is Spinal Tap," "The Simpsons" and several beloved Christopher Guest movies), will play at the Lincoln Square and Metro on Monday only. Shearer, a New Orleans resident, made the film to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. For more information on the film, see www.thebiguneasy.com.

And finally, a young Angelina Jolie stars in this week's midnight movie at the Egyptian: the 1995 teen-computer-geek drama "Hackers," with Fisher Stevens and Jonny Lee Miller. Tonight and Saturday, 805 E. Pine St., Seattle; 206-781-5755 or www.landmarktheatres.com.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com